René has been working at Utrecht University from 2009 onward. As of 1 March 2026, René is Coordinator of the Huizinga Institute, the Netherlands Research School of Cultural History as well as General Manager of the Kurt Lewin Institute, the centre for graduate training and research focusing on the analysis of the psychological factors contributing to the shaping of social behaviour, a joint initiative of 6 Dutch universities. For both research schools Utrecht University is the current hosting university and penholder.

Since he joined Utrecht University in 2009, René has supported several research project, inter alia as support officer of the Onderzoeksteam Instituties voor Collective Actie and as Executive Director of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC).

As research support officer, René has coordinated various research projects, among which the Citizen Science project ‘Ja, ik wil’ and co-authoredseveral scientific publications.

Between 2021 and 2026 René was Office Manager of the N.W. Posthumus Institute, the research school for Social and Economic History in the Netherlands and Flanders.

Prior to his activities in the field of History, René has worked for years as a state registered nurse within Dutch healthcare and adjacent sectors.

Book publication : https://uitgeverijprometheus.nl/boeken/ja-ik-wil-paperback/